- Edgware Town (lost ground
- Kentish Town
- Kingsbury London Tigers
- Hendon (lost ground)
Firstly I'd like to apologise as I didn't get round as many grounds as I thought. I missed out Oxhey Jets and Northwood's grounds. However I am going back at the end of July and will hopefully be able to visit them then, plus I've planned a pre season friendly at Brentford.
My first ground was The White Lion ground, formerly home to Edgware Town of the Isthmian One South. The demolition date of the main stand was end of May 2010, so I hoped I might just get to it. However when I went past a couple of days before my visit there had been diggers, so I knew that I had only just missed it. The ground still has its covered terrace though, the 600 capacity metal structure is now coated in graffiti rather than the green paint iot was originally. The pitch is now overgrown so there was no chance of a reformed Edgware team playing there. Looking at pictures the main stand used to have about 150-200 green seats in it. It was one of those high up stands where you have to climb a staircase to reach the seating, like at Consett, Crook Town and the main stand at Chesterfield's late Saltergate. Behind both goals there is a couple of rows of open concrete terracing. The ground is bordered up and the turnstiles have been scattered, barricading the way in.
The run down cover at Edgware.
My second ground was a quick visit to the Barnet Copthall Stadium, a temporary home for Kentish Town. It is mainly an athletics stadium but does have some interesting stands.
The entrance to the ground is on the West side. I didn't try breaking in as there were a few people there and I would be noticed. On the West side is the main stand which contains about 72 benches giving an overall capacity of about 500. Opposite this is a peculiar stand that kind of doesn't look like it should be there. It looks like it should be some sort of balcony running along the pitch hyowever it holds 2 or 3 rows of blue plastic tip up seats like you'd find at a league football ground. There are also a few dozen more of these on the south side of the ground. However I think on matchdays fans are kept in the main stand. Kentish town currently play in the Spartan South Midlands League Division 1.
The main stand at Kentish Town.
Ground 3 was another snappy visit to Silver Jubilee Park, home to Kingsbury London Tigers of the Spartans South Midlands League Division 1. The ground is on the West side of the Brent Resevoir near Brent cross. The ground is simple with a post and rail fencing around the pitch. Between the changing rooms and the pitch there is a cage tunnel to protect the players as they go onto the pitch (this is Kingsbury of course). On the East end there is main stand that holds about 120 seated fans. It has yellow plastic tip up sits.
The main stand at Kingsbury.
My last ground was Claremont road, former home of Hendon until recently. The club now groundshare at Vale Farm, home of Wembley (another ground I plan on visiting next time).
Hendon play in the current Isthian League Premier Division. The ground still has its covered terrace on the East side of the ground which is almost exactly the same size as Edgware's. On the West side is the former main stand which did hold around 350 red bucket seats (these are normal plastic football ground seats but without the back rest part on. The stand is now demolished but the seats are still in the rubble of the stand. I debated trying to pull a couple out to take back to my home team, Northallerton Town, as we have a couple of seats missing as hooligans have ripped them out, also the seats in our stand are red so it would fit in fine. There are several rows of uncovered terracing all the way around the ground bringing the overall capacity too around 3000 at least.
The covered terrace at Hendon.
